


I’m So Sorry

by AmpliSignal



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Gen, Retelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-10
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2019-08-21 15:09:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16578896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmpliSignal/pseuds/AmpliSignal
Summary: The final battle, from Infinite’s perspective.





	I’m So Sorry

Infinite wasn’t entirely sure how everything had gone so wrong, but he was going to fix it for good this time.

The Phantom Ruby was still recharging. That was fine, it was only a few minutes away from being fully charged again. The rookie had destroyed the sun with the Phantom Ruby replica, even though the replica was only supposed to work once. That was also fine, it meant that they were occupied elsewhere for now. In the center of the canyon, at the entrance to the tower, Sonic was alone. Sonic’s imprisonment had not stopped the Resistance, but perhaps his _death_ would.

This was Infinite’s chance to strike. He would not fail this time.

He descended from the skies, until he hovered a few feet above the ground, a short ways away from Sonic. This was his chance. He let himself imagine his loathsome foe being dashed against the floor, and a smile split his face.  _“Pathetic little hedgehog,”_   he crowed,  _“even with the Phantom Ruby weakened, I still have enough power to smash you into smithereens.”_   With a cackle, he raised his fists.  _“I’ll show you how outclassed you really are!”_

Sonic watched silently until he finished, then shot back, “I’m in a class all my own!” Making a running start, he yelled, “Time to put up or shut up, Infinite!”

Infinite generated a field of cubes around him, then started flying backwards. Keeping himself at a distance, firing at range, was probably best for now. Getting up close in the Mystic Jungle had allowed the hedgehog a few free hits; while he would have been happy to raise up his victim’s hopes before crushing them in any other circumstance, he couldn’t afford to play around now.

Racking his brain for the most difficult formations he could think of, he shut his eye for a moment to think- then snapped it open, smirking beneath his mask.  _“What would you like your epitaph to read?”_   he asked, preparing a series of attacks within his mind.  _“How about: 'here lies the blue buffoon?'”_   With that, he flung three waves of cubes at Sonic, then generated a series of spinning blades between the two of them.

Sonic jumped in the air, effortlessly clearing _all three_ waves- _what?-_ and then weaved in and out of the glitching blades. “How about 'here dozes the masked clown?'” he replied with a grin, sliding under the last blade and resuming his normal running formation. “Might as well make it for the person who needs one, right?”

Alright then, playtime was over. With a snarl, Infinite snapped his fingers, and the sky began raining fire- laser blasts, meteorites, actual flames- on the track between them. Sonic rolled back and forth, side to side, dodging every single one, until he looked up in apparent panic as a meteor headed right into his path.

The world seemed to glitch, and the meteor disappeared. With a smirk, Sonic rushed ahead.

Infinite growled unintelligibly in frustration. The Ruby was still short on power. He just needed another minute or two, but how long until reinforcements arrived from the Resistance?

...It didn’t matter. He would still win, Ruby or no Ruby. He was omnipotent, all-powerful- he was Infinite. If the gem was going to fail him, then he would win without it. He tried once more to generate an illusion. Sparks flew, and then disappeared without a trace. He would have to do this the regular way, then.

Descending to ground level, he lunged at Sonic. As long as his teleportation powers still worked, he could level a physical assault on the hedgehog, and be sure to win. “Fastest thing alive” Sonic may have been, but he wasn’t invincible.

Sonic smirked and threw a punch. Infinite teleported to Sonic’s other side and landed a kick to the back of the head. Sonic stumbled forward a bit, but then righted himself and backflipped, landing behind Infinite. Infinite teleported around eight times, each in a different direction- watching Sonic try to follow his motion with a chuckle- then landed in front of Sonic and socked him in the jaw. Sonic sucked in a breath, then snatched Infinite’s arm and threw him across the road. Infinite teleported back into a standing position just before he landed, then settled a few feet away from Sonic.

He could feel the vibrating, the pulsing in his chest. The Ruby glowed, newly energized.  _“You’re done for, Sonic,”_   Infinite cackled, lifting back up into the air.  _“The Phantom Ruby’s energy is recharged.”_   Releasing an energy blast, and hearing the ever-so-satisfying sound of Sonic flying back and bouncing along the floor, he cried out,  _“PERISH, along with your USELESS FRIENDS!”_

As if on cue- he cursed this useless world, and its penchant for dramatic timing- a wire extended across his vision, pulling the rookie onto the scene along with it. The rookie landed next to Sonic, and offered him a hand.

Sonic took the rookie’s hand and stood up. “My friends got me this far,” he boasted, “and together, we’re gonna win!”

They didn’t have time for this. Focusing all his energy, Infinite crossed his arms in front of his face, then opened the curtain into a new world. The canyon was torn away, leaving only the purple void of what he had come to know as Null Space.

His two opponents started running, seemingly unfazed by the new world they had entered. Infinite flew backwards as well, resuming his previous position at a distance- the rookie’s Wispon only worked at short range. He had no need to close the gap this time. Spires of crimson cubes burst from the floor beneath the two heroes, forcing them to swerve from side to side to avoid them. The path warped beneath them, curving in and out, up and down, but still they forged onward.

The two of them, together… they had a confidence that no one could ever have alone.

_Two is always stronger than one, she had told him. So the five of them together would be unstoppable._

_Funny how that had worked out._

Gritting his teeth, Infinite growled,  _“Friends are but a fleeting illusion. You can count on nobody but yourself!”_   With that, he snapped his fingers- and the Ruby formed the landscape into a central room, with two sets of platforms suspended above a dark, clouded abyss. Now that the Ruby was fully-powered, it seemed it could do the thinking for him. With a will of the mind, a mechanical monstrosity spawned beneath him, almost snake-like in nature.

“Your mask can’t hide how sad and lonely you are!” Sonic yelled out from one of the platforms. Infinite noted that the rookie was on the other set of platforms. Perfect. Sending the mecha to deal with the rookie, he then faced Sonic. Sonic smirked. “That power of yours is the real illusion!”

Infinite balled his hand into a fist, summoning lasers from the sky to rain down upon Sonic. Sonic rolled back and forth between the lasers, almost casually, as though this was some sort of joke to him.

A loud crashing noise echoed through the chamber. Infinite looked back just in time to see the mecha, drill marks scattered across its form, careening towards him. He silently called upon the Ruby, and the Ruby reformed the landscape once more.

Now, they were on another road. This time, however, the road was suspended in space, the Earth clearly visible below them. Above them, Infinite could see some sort of space station. Sonic and the rookie were still running, the road crumbling behind them. Infinite generated walls of cubes in the road, trying to block their path. Yet, somehow, they jumped over one, and used the grappling hook to swing around another, alternating between the two.

Did they believe they could do anything?

He could fix that.

The Ruby contorted the dimension, until they were running on a road above the clouds, the winds buffeting them from every angle. Turrets spawned on the side of the road, firing at the ever-stubborn heroes. Narrowing his eye, Infinite fired energy waves at them, forcing them to duck down, jump up, sidestep, all while dodging the turret fire.

Yet, not a single bullet managed to strike them... how?

The Ruby reformed the world once more. They were on a platform again, still above the clouds, still struck by winds- another airship above them. (Why did the Ruby like the stratosphere so much?) A dragon-like mecha floated above them, and swiftly charged towards them. Infinite could only watch in shock as both Sonic and the rookie grabbed onto the mecha and steered it away from the platform. Were they both _insane?_ Gritting his teeth, he flung laser blasts at the mecha, watching with satisfaction as his lasers damaged the metallic monstrosity- only to widen his eye as the other two steered it in his direction.

He dodged to the side- but then the Ruby changed the scene again, the familiar warping beginning to make him nauseous. Was it malfunctioning?

They were falling, falling to the lava below. They landed on a rocky platform. Infinite watched as another mecha- which he recognized, this time, as the Egg Dragoon- struck out at them, damaging the platform. This would be it. They would fall, and they would die, and he could report back to the Doctor with his success.

The platform crumbled, and they fell. He smirked.

The landscape changed again, and Sonic and the rookie landed unharmed in the middle of a circular path. With a growl, Infinite grabbed the Ruby with one hand, as if he could restrain it by doing so- only to wince in pain as a shock ran through his arm. _"What is this?”_   he murmured, already noticing the road beginning to distort.

No. He had to kill them, before the Ruby destroyed all three of them- and possibly even the universe with it. Snarling, he fired a laser at the other two, who were too busy watching the world corrupt itself to pay attention.

The Ruby warped once more. They were on a mountain, covered with lava. The mountain was crumbling, smoke erupting from vents above them- meteors raining down. The world itself was dying. Panicking, he clawed at the Ruby, despite the pain it caused him. He had to stop this thing, before it killed him.

Sonic and the rookie were running towards him.

The world stretched and twisted once more, until it was unrecognizable- then, with a flash of light, his vision was filled with orange.

The land ahead of him was a desert, buildings in flames scattered sparsely throughout. The air was thick with smoke. He glanced around, suspicious of the strange calm. Next to him were four other creatures, two on each side. He recognized each of them as a jackal, with their black fur and white muzzles. But… why were they here? He didn’t know them.

_"Yes, you do,”_   he heard on his right. He turned, and saw that the one who had spoken, the one with the green headband, was staring at him. Next to the speaker, the one with the red cap also glared at him, as if daring him to object.

_“This was what you wanted, right?”_   said the one on his left, the one with the vest and pants. He turned to face her, ears flattening back.

She, along with the one with the red bandana, looked directly at the Ruby.  _“You wanted a world torn apart by war,”_   she said, looking back up at him.  _"You wanted to see it all burn. Was this all worth it?”_

_“I don’t know you,”_   Infinite insisted, his hands balled into fists.  _“Whoever you are, you have no right to challenge me. I am INFINITE- the everlasting, the perpetual.”_

_“You say that,”_   she growled,  _"and yet you can’t even face the fact that you got your own squad mates KILLED.”_

Infinite reeled back in shock.  _“How DARE you?”_   he snarled, stretching out his hands in preparation to attack.  _“WHO DO YOU THINK I AM?”_

She reached out and, before he could stop her, yanked the mask off of his face.

He howled and tried to take the mask back, but the two behind him restrained him. He struggled to get away, yet their grip held firm. Behind the one with the vest, the one with the red bandana held up a piece of broken glass, showing him his reflection.

He could only stare in horror at his ruined face- the scorched and blinded lid over his useless right eye, the scars across his skin, the crookedness in his broken jaw.

He looked just like them.

He blinked, and suddenly the other four were covered in gashes and bruises, much like his own.  _“You remember us,”_   all four spoke in unison,  _“but you refuse to acknowledge us.”_

_“Ein,”_   said the one with the green headband, gripping Infinite’s left shoulder, blood dripping down his forehead.

_“Deux,”_   said the one in the vest and pants, cuts covering her face, crimson staining her vest.

_“Tres,”_   said the one in the red bandana, his limbs contorted at sickening angles.

_“Yon,”_   said the one in the red cap, both eyes glazed over, a dark bruise on the side of her head.

Infinite couldn’t move. Whether it was the Ruby or the others’ gazes that held him in place, he could not move, or say a word.  _“So tell us,”_   his former squad mates demanded, as the world contorted once more, the orange light overtaken by hideous violet.  _“Are you satisfied?”_

The purple shifted into blue. He could barely see through the blinding light- and then something struck him, and the world went back to normal as he was thrown back. He hit the floor, and kept tumbling, until he eventually rolled to a stop, face down.

He weakly reached up for his mask, but only felt fur. It really had disappeared.

_“How…”_   he murmured. The Ruby, the traitorous, wretched Ruby… how could everything have gone so _wrong?_

“Infinite!” came Sonic’s voice from afar. Infinite lifted his head slowly, just enough that he could see the hedgehog and the rookie approaching. Of course. They were here to gloat, to tell him how _worthless_ and _pathetic_ he was, just like heroes were apparently supposed to do to their opponents.

He hadn’t changed a bit. The Ruby was supposed to _change_ him, to make him _strong_ , but it had done _nothing_. It had _ruined_ him.

Wincing, he tried to pull himself into a standing position. Then, with a scream of pent-up frustration, rage, and grief, he lunged at Sonic, striking out once more at him.

The world contorted once again- but this time, he felt himself contorting with it. His form was flickering, the dizzying nausea of teleportation settling in in full force. He could almost hear the Doctor laughing at his station. _“N-no! Wait!”_   he cried out, oblivious to both Sonic and the rookie reaching out to him. As he was lifted into the air against his will, and his form quickly faded, he screamed,  _“I CAN STILL FIGHT!”_

And then there was nothing, his consciousness having ceased.

—

_He could feel nothing._

_He was vaguely aware, in the background, of his body being attached to machinery. But he felt no more pain._

_He just felt empty._

_“Ein,” he cried out hoarsely, though his body in the real world did nothing. “Deux, Tres, Yon…”_

_He did not know what to do._

_He collapsed, shaking._

_“I’m sorry,” he whispered, his voice wavering._

_It didn’t matter what he had wanted. Whether he had wanted it for them, or for himself, or just to spite the world. Their blood was on his hands, and he had taken it out on others._

_Now they were gone, and he was soon to meet the same fate. The afterlife had probably been kinder to them than it would be to him. He would never see them again._

_Maybe that was for the best._

_As the Doctor tore the Ruby from his chest, and the machines shut down the rest of his body, he felt the world fade away, and himself with it._

 

_His apology went unanswered._

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, this got kind of dark.
> 
> I will say that this doesn't reflect my headcanons for Forces exactly- I do think that Infinite survived, and I hope that the Jackal Squad survived, but I thought that this would be an interesting scenario to write. The title is a reference to the Imagine Dragons song of the same name, which gave me the inspiration to write this.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed!


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